This week, Alex and Wesley discuss the implausible highs of Furious 7: the driving of armored vehicles — in reverse, out of a Lockheed C-130 Hercules — the amnesia, the crashed cars, the charismatic Tyrese, and the revenant Paul Walker.

Then it’s on to a discussion of the drought in California, which garnered extra attention last week after Governor Jerry Brown placed restrictions on water use. Who knows where this conversation was supposed to go, but they discuss the premonitory power of water in popular culture and nonfiction. Alex also laments his self-watering lawn.

Listen to the podcast here.

Here are links to topics discussed in this week’s show:

Furious 7

“Death Proof: ‘Furious 7’ Debuts at SXSW, Gives Paul Walker a Fitting Send-off,” Grantland, March 17, 2015

Grantland’s Furious 7 coverage

The California Drought

“Water guzzlers would be punished under state proposal,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 7, 2015

“California’s wealthy lagging in water conservation,” Los Angeles Times, April 5, 2015

“California Imposes First Mandatory Water Restrictions to Deal With Drought,” The New York Times, April 1, 2015

Last Call at the Oasis, Jessica Yu, 2011

“Unfair,” Pavement, 1994

City of Quartz, Mike Davis, 1990

“Holy Water,” Joan Didion, 1979

Chinatown, Robert Towne, Roman Polanski, 1974

Jam of the Week

“Poor Moon,” Canned Heat, 1969